KIRKUS REVIEW

This middle-grade debut finds an
audacious child—with a knack for bonding with animals—thrown into peril by her
scheming uncle.

In 1908, 12-year-old Clothilde is
the only child of Lord and Lady Ashton, new residents of Fairfax, Oregon.
Preferring the name Chloe, the precocious girl loves to explore the nearby
wilds while her parents run the Mercantile, an imported fabric shop. Life feels
idyllic, as Chloe realizes that the house’s staff and woodland creatures alike
adore her. Then one day, tragedy strikes her parents, leaving her family
shattered. Chloe retreats into a world of literature and befriends a remarkably
intelligent white rat whom she names Shakespeare. Further change comes in the
form of Uncle Blake Underwood, who arrives to help maintain the Mercantile. But
Blake is the shiftiest of characters and quickly compromises the entire estate.
He abducts Chloe, bringing her by horse-drawn carriage among a band of
vagabonds, intending to sell her. Not without her own natural gifts, Chloe
comes to know and speak with Greybelle, her uncle’s horse. The mare
describes her own tragic past as well as an ancient battle between the mountains
themselves that left the landscape in ruins. If the girl is to escape, she must
learn the extent of her own abilities, and just how deep the land’s magic runs.
In this appealing novel, Rios writes with an abiding love of nature, illustrating
in scene after scene the power people may draw from it. When Chloe displays
wonder that animals understand her, Greybelle says, “The respect you show to
all beings—human, animal, or plant—is also your ‘voice,’ and they all hear it
loud and clear.” As her fortunes wax and wane, Chloe meets other charismatic
individuals like the Artist and Mrs. Goodweather. Rios keeps the danger real by
using only low-key magic—like enchanted paintings and pies—that feels “so familiar
and so natural that it was almost not like magic at all.” The mystery
surrounding a suspiciously cloistered hospital and its reckless ambulance
drivers should draw readers to the sequel.

An engaging adventure that shows the
strength that can be discovered amid tragedy.

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